The Joint Precision Airdrop System, or JPADS, is a multipart, GPS-based method that allows for highly accurate parachute airdrop of cargo loads of various sizes from altitudes as high as 25,000 feet. And, with only a forty-minute flying time from Dyess AFB, Texas, to the extensive training ranges and drop zones at Fort Hood, the 317th Airlift Group has become a recognized leader in C-130 precision airdrop operations.

Early in 2012 we invited Code One readers and contributors to send us their best photos. We asked for recent, striking photographs of current Lockheed Martin aircraft to develop a “Best of Code One” theme for the 2013 edition of the calendar.

The company credited with designing, developing, and manufacturing the U-2 Dragon Lady, C-130 Hercules, C-5 Galaxy, and F-16 Fighting Falcon also maintains, repairs, overhauls, and tests the engines that power these military aircraft. Kelly Aviation Center also repairs engines for some commercial aircraft.

The 314th Air Wing at Little Rock AFB, Arkansas, trains approximately 1,800 C-130E/H and C-130J aircrew members annually—about 450 daily—from the US and from nearly thirty-five countries around the world. Close to 1,600 Hercules maintainers from the US and from more than fifteen allied nations are also trained every year.